Pi’s nemesis: Mathematics is better with tau

By Jacob Aron

It’s time to kill off pi, says physicist Michael Hartl, who believes that an alternative mathematical constant will do its job better

What’s wrong with pi?

Of course, pi is not “wrong” in the sense of being incorrect, it’s just a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant. Pi is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, and this definition leads to annoying factors of 2. Try explaining to a 12-year-old why the angle for an eighth of a pizza – one slice – is pi/4 instead of pi/8.